It's not often that a state government finds that the very land on which it thrives is slowly being parcelled out by unscrupulous operators exploiting loopholes in the law.

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Farzand Ahmed

November 28, 2013

ISSUE DATE: February 28, 1985

UPDATED: March 4, 2014 16:05 IST

The disputed land holding

It's not often that a state government finds that the very land on which it thrives is slowly being parcelled out by unscrupulous operators exploiting loopholes in the law.

Horrified by disclosures that about 20,000 acres of rich cultivable land along a 12-km stretch between Baripada and Betnoti were being skillfully used by a clutch of individuals to their advantage (India Today, September 30,1984), the Orissa Government quickly galvanised its Department of Vigilance to set about uncovering the racket.

As officials last fortnight prepared to draw up a charge-sheet against the offenders, it became increasingly clear that the mystery had only inexorably been complicated further.

Registered under the Sir Daniel Hamilton (Charitable) Trust, the land holding was operated by a lone trustee, Subodh Kumar Bose, 72, who was arrested six months ago on charges of cheating the state Government and forgery of a document entitling him to an illegal possession of land belonging to the Hamilton estate. He was later released on bail.

But, with Hamilton's roots being traced to Scotland, vigilance officials were initially excited when Interpol, the international police organisation, got back to them with information from the Scottish police: one, that Daniel Hamilton had died leaving no heirs; two, that he had had no children; three, that the will and other documents - including declination papers made out by three churches, and the coopting of Bose to manage the holdings being cited by Bose as proof of the genuineness of his trusteeship of the estate were, in fact, authentic and duly registered in the public records office in Scotland.

Subodh Kumar Bose: Complicated case

With this, their hopes of a quick indictment of Bose were soon dashed. As Ranjit Mohanty, former chairman of the Bar Council of India, and now counsel for Bose, pointed out, this evidence only serves to strengthen his client's case.

The case begins in the princely state of Mayur bhanj, long before the state of Orissa was formed in 1936, when the then ruler leased 2,000 acres of land to Daniel Meckinn Hamilton, popularly known as the pioneer of the cooperative movement in the country.

The land was to be used to start a model agricultural farm and a cooperative training school. But when Hamilton died in 1939, he had managed to multiply the 2,000 acres into 20,000 acres which passed into the hands of other members of the Hamilton family and to three churches - the Church of England.

Church of Scotland, and the London Missionaries Society through a will made by Sir Daniel. When the last of the Hamilton men died, the power of attorney over the land holding was supposedly given to Bose and Gopinath Berman, manager of Hamilton's properties in Calcutta.

When again the churches and Berman relinquished their rights to the property, Bose, who began his working life as a clerk in the '40s, found himself in the 70s a rich man indeed.

In the right royal manner of a true born landlord, Bose managed to escape the tentacles of the Land Ceiling Act by quickly acquiring a certificate classifying the entire area "privileged ryot land", and, in 1972, registered it in the name of the Sir Hamilton (Charitable) Trust.

By the '80s, the land holding had begun earning huge revenues. Aided by shrewd advisors, he sold part of the land and the timber, often to various government departments themselves. This would have continued indefinitely had a government pleader in Baripada not suddenly got wise to the goings-on.

When papers pertaining to land compensation of a staggering Rs 8 lakh payable to Bose in lieu of 150 acres being taken over by the state Government came to him, Sushil Chandra Dash's suspicions were thoroughly aroused, and investigations set in motion.

Vigilance officials now argue that the land should automatically have passed into government control after the death of Lady Hamilton in 1946. Mohanty, however, maintains that by law, a charitable trust can never die, even if the trustees die.

Whatever the legal ramifications, official sources disclosed that steps were being taken to cancel the privilege ryot certificates that had been granted to Bose, and to take over the land holding.

Taking a cue from the West Bengal Government, which took over land similarly acquired by Hamilton in Gosaba, the Orissa Government is contemplating terminating the lease, they said.

Obviously for the state Government it is also a matter of ruffled feelings over its having been taken for a ride by either the Hamilton clan or by the inheritors. And going by the first of Interpol's disclosures, it is not going to be smooth.

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